2015 Culinary Tour to Japan with Hiroko Part 1

Posted on Apr 15, 2015 in Hiroko's Blog

Family Tsukiji (2)Dear Allison, John, Jane and Steve,

Thank you very much for joining the 2015 Culinary Tour to Japan with Hiroko. It was a great pleasure and honor to travel my country with you, a wonderful family. Here I am going to post some of the photos and comments from our journey.

Second Day Very Early Morning: Stood in a line with tourists who had the exact same goal – have a sushi breakfast at one of sushi restaurants in the inside market of Tsukiji Fish Market. We waited over 40 minutes. After deliciuos sushi, here is Jane’s comment. “I won’t eat sushi back in USA.”Sushi Chef DaiwaIMG_0040.JPG (2)Toro Maki

 

 

 

 

 

Asakusa Kannon Temple, Rikugien park and Snacks: When in Japan, as the Japanese do. The family savored dango (sticky rice ball), ningyo-yaki (small cake dough, crafted in multipule shapes and stuffed with azuki sweet bean), tsukudani (shoyu and sugar cured little fish and shellfish; seaweed), and tsukemono (vegetable pickles) between visiting Asakusa Kannon and Rikugien park.

Allison DangoSteve DangoFamily Rikugien

This is a neat, small 2-300 years old toy machine (?), which was used to John Old Machinepound the dried chile (chile peppers were brought by the Portuguese!) for the shichimi togarashi blend, we were told by a shop keeper. Surprise is everyplace in Tokyo. I am from Tokyo. How many times I have visited to Asakusa and missed to find this machine until this trip.

One of our dinners in Tokyo was at a private dining restaurant. Here are Allison and John, smart dressers and beautiful couple. The chef first brought and presented us the ingredients – fish, shellfish, vegetables – of today’s meal. Then, carefully prepared and beaufifully presented  delicious dishes were sent to us one after another. A pastry chef came into our dining room at the end of our meal with ingredients and tools to use to make Japanese desserts. He made two different types. One of them was shaped in tai (sea bream), a symbol of Congratulation in Japan. It was Allison’s birthday. What a wonderful way to show their congratulations to Allison! She was moved. The Part II will be on next blog.

Beautiful CoupleToday's IngredientsFukinotoYakumo SeondYakumo ThirdIMG_0078